


We've Travelled Together, We've Travelled So Far

by bertie456 (bertee)



Series: Bones: You're Lovely to Me [2]
Category: Bones (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-09-01
Updated: 2008-09-01
Packaged: 2017-10-27 20:10:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/299583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bertee/pseuds/bertie456





	We've Travelled Together, We've Travelled So Far

Temperance Brennan never believed the story of Noah and his ark.

Her first problem with it was the lack of a reputable source. As a scientist, she liked everything to be backed up by empirical facts and hard evidence, but the Bible provided neither of these, instead just asking her to believe that a senior citizen built a boat, stocked it full of animals and went for a cruise over the submerged earth.

And it wasn't just the source material. To her mind, the story itself was full of holes, such as how Noah could fit two of every animal on a boat, and how he could guard against the natural instinct of animals higher up the food chains to eat their lower counterparts when feeling peckish. But until today, the main problem she had with the story was the volume of water that was said to have come down from the skies.

However, the amount of rain currently falling around her was causing Brennan to reassess her entire position on the subject. It fell from the sky in sheets, bouncing high off the uneven road surface in front of her. She could hear the heavy drops hammering against the roof of the SUV and could see the cold winter wind blowing the water sideways, sending the rain on a diagonal path to earth. Staring out of the windows, she wished fervently that the vehicle was still moving.

Sighing, she curled up in the back seat, tucking her legs underneath her and wrapping Booth's sweater round her shoulders to keep warm. She had briefly considered commandeering the entire bag of clothes he had in the trunk, figuring that hers were either too dirty or too thin, but had decided to leave them for him to change into when he inevitably failed to fix the engine and got back into the relative warmth of the car.

 _It's not like he deserves to have dry clothes to come back to,_ she thought with a hint of bitterness. _It's his fault that we're stuck here._ Trying to quash her annoyance towards her partner, she stared out of the window at the Pennsylvania woods, thinking that at least it hadn't rained while they were working the case.

The case itself had been fairly straightforward. A badly mauled body had been found up in Blue Ridge Mountains by a group of walkers a few days earlier. Brennan had been asked to ID the victim, and Booth had accompanied her mainly for the free vacation, but between the two of them, they'd managed to work out that the dead man's wife had filled his backpack with honey before he went on a walk, resulting in him being attacked and killed by hungry bears. After the tackily-named "Honey Trap Killer" had been apprehended, Booth and Brennan had headed back to DC, only for the heavens to open as they drove.

Temperance was shaken out of her thoughts as the vehicle literally shook when the hood was slammed shut, and she bit back a laugh as she watched her partner jog round to the door to the back seat. She could only see the top half of him, but he appeared to be soaked through. His soggy collar poked out of the top of his waterproof jacket and his usually coiffed hair had been flattened by the rain, causing it to stick messily to his head. Despite the amount of water pouring from the sky, Booth still looked dirty from the engine, his cheeks and forehead stained with oil and grime from where he'd accidentally rubbed his hands against them.

As he pulled open the door and climbed hurriedly into the back seat, she saw that his bottom half was just as bad as his top. At first glance, his jeans looked to be dry, but it was only when she caught sight of a lighter patch between his thighs that she realised that they had been almost completely drenched, darkening the color of the denim. His boots dripped as he collapsed against the seat with a groan, oil stains now visible on his hands and clothes.

Staying tucked under her warm sweater, she asked mockingly, "So, did you fix it?"

Too tired to acknowledge her jibe, Booth shook his head in defeat. "Water got into the air intake. There's nothing I can do to fix it here." He looked over at her, registering her raised eyebrows. "I know, I know, you don't need to say it."

"Say what?" she inquired innocently.

Booth eyed her warily, unsure whether she was still mocking him or whether her question was down to genuine confusion. Having faith in his partner, he decided on the latter and replied, "That you told me so."

He knew he'd made the wrong choice when the corners of her mouth tugged upwards in a smug smile and she answered in the know-it-all voice that drove him crazy, "I _did_ tell you so."

Sighing, Booth ran a hand through his wet hair, smoothing it back into place as he answered irritably, "I know you told me, Bones, but it was either that or driving a fifty mile detour. How was I supposed to know that a little water would do so much damage?"

"A little?" she repeated incredulously. "Booth, you drove through a flood."

"Slowly," he countered emphatically, "I drove _slowly_ through a flood."

She rolled her eyes, still annoyed at him. "Adding an adverb does not change the fact that you drove through a flood and broke your car."

"Whoa, I did not break my car, okay?" he shot back. "It's just a little temperamental right now, but I'm sure the AAA can fix it when they get here."

"It won't start," Brennan stated, not sharing his hopeful enthusiasm. "And I doubt that whatever you did to it just now will have done any good."

"Look, can we just stop with the judging? I'm soaked to the skin and covered in oil; the last thing I need right now is a lecture." He leaned forward, feeling his damp clothes stick to his body as he added petulantly, "Besides, the only reason I went through the water is because you kept nagging me about wanting to get back to the lab."

Brennan raised her eyebrows, unable to believe what she was hearing. "You're blaming me? I told you to take the detour!"

"Yeah, but you would've whined the whole way," he said as he started to pull his soaked jacket off his arms.

Infuriated, she turned to him, his sweater slipping off her shoulders as she berated him, "You are insufferable! Just because your male pride wouldn't let you drive around the flood-" She was cut off as Booth yanked the jacket hard off his arms, inadvertantly spraying her with water. "Booth!"

The agent stifled a laugh as he saw drops of water from his jacket trickling down her face and edged back, apologetically, "Sorry, Bones, but I need to get some dry clothes on."

She folded her arms across her chest. "I'm not going out in that rain while you get changed. Just climb over the seats and take your clothes off before you make me any wetter."

Giving her a salute and a wink, Booth said mockingly, "Yes, ma'am," before standing on the back seats and clumsily climbing over into the uncovered trunk, his boots squeaking loudly on the slippery leather. Finding his case, he rummaged through for some suitable clothes, instructing his partner, "You face forward, alright? I don't want you ogling me while I'm changing."

"Ogling?" Brennan moved to turn round before taking a deep breath and deciding not to give in to his teasing. "I'm not going to "ogle" you, Booth. Now get changed before the AAA show up."

Seeing that she had turned her head directly forward, Booth smirked and began to pull off his casual shirt which had somehow managed to get drenched despite behind under his evidently ineffective waterproof. His elbows collided hard with the sides of the trunk as he struggled to tug his arms out of the clinging sleeves and he heard Brennan snigger quietly in the back seat.

"You know, you could always make conversation instead of laughing at me," he suggested, frustrated by the cramped space. Getting no response, he tried again, "Fine, I'll start. Where did you last go on vacation?"

"What? Why would you want to have a conversation about that? I can't see how it would be of interest to either of us."

Booth's melodramatic sigh was clearly audible from behind her as he said patiently, "It's called small talk, Bones - very common among people. You should try it sometime." There was a grunt as he tried to unfasten the button on his jeans with his oily hands and he prompted again, "Now for instance."

Amused by the noises from behind her, Brennan kept her eyes fixed forward as she thought. "Well, I went to Peru in the fall to look at what was allegedly an Incan skeleton. And last summer I spent two weeks out in Indonesia helping to identify some bodies they'd found buried on one of the islands."

Now lying on his back between their suitcases and trying to tug his sodden jeans up and off his legs, Booth interrupted her answer, "Those aren't vacations. Anything involving skeletons, mass graves and the absence of alcohol is not a vacation." Successfully pulling his pants off, Booth once again knelt up as he asked hopefully, "Come on, you must've been somewhere fun. Did you ever go back to Aurora to go skiing with that guy Chuck?"

"Charlie," she corrected, fully aware that Booth knew his name. "And yes, I did."

She offered no further description of the trip and the masochistic part of Booth's mind pressed on before he could stop it, "So, did you and he... have a good time?"

Smiling a little at his question, Brennan turned her head slightly as she began to answer, "Well, actually-"

"Hey, hey, eyes forward!" he cut in suddenly, realising he was still kneeling in the trunk wearing only socks and a pair of surprisingly wet boxers. Deciding he needed to change his underwear as well, he ordered firmly, "And keep them forward."

Complying with an even wider grin, she continued as Booth fumbled behind her, "He took me skiing up there with him and some of his friends." Imagining Brennan alone with a group of the delivery man's young, attractive friends caused Booth to accidentally tug his sock off a bit too viciously, splattering muddy water over the sides of the trunk. "I had a really good time, until..."

She trailed off and despite the fact that his boxers were now round his knees, Booth asked with interest, "Until what?"

Brennan stared straight forwards, a twinkle in her eye. "I came back from an afternoon ski on my own and I thought no-one was home. But when I went up to my room, I found Charlie and his friend Brett in there." She resisted the urge to turn round, wanting to see Booth's expression as she finished, "They were wearing my underwear."

There was a loud thud from behind her followed by a groan of pain. Booth had been crouching, trying to step out of his boxers as she was telling the story and had promptly overbalanced and smacked his head on the door as he fell. His groan was quickly replaced by a snort of laughter as he asked, "What did you do?"

"I left," she stated simply before adding with a contemplative air, "I let them keep my bras and panties though; I didn't really want to wear them again after that."

Booth laughed, enjoying the thought of the cocky young man caught in a humiliating situation. It quickly dawned on him, however, that he was still sitting, naked and damp, in the trunk of his SUV and he hurriedly wriggled on a dry pair of boxers as Brennan pondered aloud, "You know, I think I had a better time when we went."

"Except for the creepy cannibalistic doctor you nearly brained with a bedpan?"

She frowned. "I thought that was one of the highlights."

Banging his head on the roof as he pulled his clean jeans on, Booth said with mock-hurt, "You were supposed to say that hanging out with me was one of the highlights."

Considering this possibility, she shrugged, "Maybe that was too."

Booth read her implication and finished, "But you still prefered the cannibal." She said nothing and he sighed. "You know, you can be normal sometimes, Bones. You managed it in Vegas."

"Booth, high heels and a tight dress don't make a woman normal."

His head emerged from the neck of his fresh t-shirt as he replied, "I didn't mean that. I just meant that for a few days you focused your attention on things other than skeletons. It was nice to see you relax for a while..."

Still looking towards the front of the car, Temperance shook her head. "That wasn't relaxed, that was acting. We were undercover, remember? I was being Roxie. When _I_ relax, I read books, do jigsaw puzzles, catch up on my writing..."

Almost fully dressed, Booth slid his socks and shoes back on as he asked, slightly disappointed, "So you didn't even have the tiniest bit of fun in Vegas?"

For the first time, she glanced over her shoulder at him with a knowing smile, "I don't know; hanging out with you was one of the highlights."

He chuckled. "You're a fast learner."

"I know," she said matter-of-factly.

Shoes fastened, Booth clambered back over the seat, landing next to his partner as he said, smiling, "Well, I definitely had more fun going with you than when I went before." Seeing her surprised look, he elaborated, "Last few times, I left broke after a few nights spent in a crappy motel with some of my army buddies. This time, I left after a stay in a fancy hotel, with the case solved and with you on my arm." He leaned back, running his hand through his hair, "With Vegas, it's all about how you leave. Millions of people come in with high hopes but very few leave satisfied."

Looking over at him, Brennan asked quietly, "And you were satisfied?"

His smile widened, "Almost completely."

She opened her mouth, wanting to ask why he wasn't _absolutely_ satisfied, but before she could get the question out, there was a sharp knock on the window. Startled, they turned to see the cheerful face of a plump man who wore a bright orange coat and shouted through the window, "You Mr Steven Booth?"

Rolling his eyes at his partner, Booth pulled on his still wet jacket, not particularly enthusiastic about going back out into the rain in his warm, dry clothes.

Temperance watched as he opened the door and smiled as she heard him answer the man, not bothering to tell him his actual name, "Yep, that's me." The car door was slammed shut as Booth and the AAA man walked round to the engine and she curled back up in the corner of the seat, still wondering about the answer to the last question. Wrapping the sweater tightly around her again, she smiled to herself, deciding that the view she'd had in the rearview mirror for most of the conversation was more than satisfactory.


End file.
